Date: February 26, 2025
In light of the Trump administration's attempt to downsize the government, employment lawyers are swamped with messages from concerned federal employees. TELG's Michael Vogelsang, and other attorneys, spoke with Law.com about ongoing strategies to help those employees. Mr. Vogelsang said he's keeping an eye on a request from the Office of Special Counsel to stay probationary terminations that may prove to be key.
Quoteworthy:
"What's happening is wrong and it will keep happening unless someone tells them to stop."
Michael L. Vogelsang, Jr.
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[EXCERPT]
Lawyers Are Worried About Retaliation and Safety Amid Demand Surge
Swamped with calls and emails from prospective clients whose jobs are on the chopping block, some attorneys who represent federal employees are changing the way they deliver services, in hopes of reaching the most people.
But at the same time, these employment lawyers are taking steps to mitigate the risk of retribution for trying to impede the effort to cut the federal payroll.
[…]
The Office of Special Counsel, a federal watchdog agency, has determined that a handful of the probationary employees who were cut were actually subject to reductions in force, in what appears to be a novel situation, said Vogelsang.
The OSC is seeking a stay of layoffs to probationary employees on that grounds, and the request is before the Merit Systems Protection Board, he said.
That theory provides “viable avenues, given that there are rules that the government has to follow to do a reduction in force. This is where I think there is an avenue of, I don’t want to say an avenue of, redress, because I can’t say anyone’s done it before. I think it’s an avenue of exploration,” Vogelsang said.
[…]
Moving ahead, a key factor in the federal workers’ fate is what happens with the MSPB, Vogelsang said. The three-member panel has been in turmoil, but a lot is riding on the OSC’s request to stay the terminations of probationary employees, he said. If the MSPB agrees with the OSC that the probationary termination tool is being used improperly, Vogelsang says, the administration will resort to large-scale reductions in force, which is a longer and more complex process.
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